tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60143312019-03-22T01:56:19.787-04:00Innocents and Accidents, Hints and Allegations"It Is What It Is. Until It Isn't."
-Spongebob SquarepantsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2589125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-45069234977877307252018-02-16T22:40:00.003-05:002018-02-16T22:40:52.286-05:00(Yet Another) Cri de Coeur
Occam's Razor is usually stated as "when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Facts, as President Reagan once told us, are stubborn things. They don't go away when you stop believing in them, as I think Robert Heinlein wrote. Or maybe it was Arthur C Clarke. It couldn't matter less.
There has been another mass shooting in America (a phrase Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-53543053476324641632017-01-14T17:52:00.002-05:002017-01-14T17:52:58.886-05:00100 Word Challenge: "Can't" [The 100 Word Challenge is for the word "record", a word you can use in all sorts of ways. The way I chose to use it is in the following story, "Can't".]
Madeline is very tall, and she has a long neck that makes her look regal and elegant. I liked that. I knew what she was about to say, and I couldn't look into her kohl rimmed eyes any longer, so I watched the muscles in her neck move as she Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-90002029494902537752016-12-29T13:53:00.002-05:002016-12-29T13:53:55.281-05:00100 Word Challenge: "Use Other Side"
[After a prolonged post election slump/pout, I return to the 100 Word Challenge with this entry, "Use Other Side," for the word "Sorry".]
I almost drop the clipboard. "Sorry," I say instinctively. The waiting room is empty, like my heart.
"Sorry." It's a child's word. It can't support the weight of regret. "Sorry I spilled my milk. Sorry I broke your lamp."
"I'm sorry for Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-62998616030776562432016-11-09T19:08:00.001-05:002016-11-09T19:08:22.107-05:00Cri De Coeur
To quote Jerry Orbach's character in "Dirty Dancing", "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."
I was wrong.
Tuesday's election has shocked me as much, I think, as any event in my life thus far. It really shouldn't have. Nate Silver, the best election forecaster there is, gave Trump a 30% chance to win the election. That's not great. You'd be a fool to want the 30% side of any bet. But it's Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-30038104617163550582016-09-22T14:51:00.002-04:002016-09-23T18:33:21.658-04:00Even More UpdatesPure Slush's Matt Potter has seen fit to publish a story of mine, "Temporary", as part of his "Cake" theme. The story can be found here.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-17051024556261933232016-09-06T05:54:00.002-04:002016-09-06T05:54:33.123-04:00UpdatesTo delve back into self promotion for just the briefest of moments, new books including stories by yours truly are available here, including the Pure Slush volumes "Five", "tall...ish", and "Summer".
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-36099430302911594212016-06-12T16:27:00.000-04:002016-06-12T16:27:25.323-04:00The Center Cannot Hold: Thoughts On Orlando
So, another mass shooting.
It is an obscenity that I have to write that sentence. Mass shootings should be as rare as hen's teeth, as uncommon as Halley's Comet or a Bartolo Colon home run or a moon landing. But, in the country of my birth, they are not. So I have to write one of the most stunning sentences I can put together: there has been another mass shooting in America.
This is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-61358073671354069392016-04-07T07:10:00.001-04:002016-04-07T07:10:18.421-04:00100 Word Challenge: "Sunday Morning Coming Down"[The 100 Word Challenge this week is a little more straightforward, this week's word being "Power". This is called "Sunday Morning Coming Down"]"Balance of power?," she said. "Power doesn't ever balance. Someone always has more." I was reading "The Oil Kings", a nerdy book about petroleum. She had a Bolano paperback on the table in front of her, but she was looking at me. We were drinking coffeeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-31400955354091184562016-04-01T16:47:00.000-04:002016-04-01T16:51:53.639-04:00100 Word Challenge: "Exit"[This week's 100 Word Challenge is a little different. Instead of involving the inclusion of something, this week requires 100 words with the absence of something. Just for fun, I'm not going to tell you what is missing, except to add that the missing element is present both in this prologue, and in the name of this blog, but not in the story itself or its title. This story is called "Exit."]
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-9161555162024237572016-03-20T07:27:00.002-04:002016-03-20T07:27:55.710-04:00100 Word Challenge: "Twilight"
[For this month's 100 Word Story Photo Challenge hosted at 100WordStory.Org, I wrote this, called "Twilight"]
The men walked up the hill away from the house. Their footsteps were silent in the snow, and their breath formed plumes in the air. It was a mile or so back to the dirt road where the car was. They didn't talk. They didn't have to. It was done. They were told to do it, and it was hard, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-38394790345554980892016-03-20T07:05:00.003-04:002016-03-20T07:05:52.199-04:00100 Word Challenge: "2AM Sportscenter"
[The 100 Word Challenge brings us the word "dream". This is called "2AM Sportscenter"]
I couldn't really sleep, and I'm running.
I spend the night drifting slowly between the harsh light of yet another Sportscenter, bright smiling eyes delivering late baseball scores, and an unreal melange of past fears and regrets. The Royals rally in the 12th against the Mariners, and the Phillies beat Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-72014089397059957352016-02-26T23:33:00.001-05:002016-02-26T23:33:38.681-05:00100 Word Challenge: "Up In Smoke"
[This week's 100 Word Challenge word is "Habit". This is called "Up In Smoke"]
It didn't solve anything. That wasn't the point. It was dumb, and it shortened your life, and it made everything smell bad. You couldn't do it anywhere anymore. It was incredibly expensive. Strangers always asked you to bum one. The craving was nearly constant, the need, the empty gnawing in your skull Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-69223452049732542322016-02-26T23:22:00.001-05:002016-02-26T23:22:49.160-05:00One A Day Until The Day I Die Podcast: "Leap"
["OneADayUntilIDie.Com" is the home of a 100 Word Story Podcast, believe it or not. This is my entry for the topic "Leap," called "Leap Year"]
The red leather toe of her shoe made tiny figures in the air between her and I.
"Want to know something?," she said. "I'm really only seven. I was born on Leap Year Day."
I looked at her black hair as she sipped. The evening Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-14669562676646380592016-02-26T23:09:00.001-05:002016-02-26T23:09:31.680-05:00100WordStory.Org Photo Prompt: "One Last Note"
[Over at 100 Word Story Dot Org, they post a photo prompt to induce acts of storytude. This is called "One Last Note"]
When she accused me of stealing, when she said she was out of milk when she wasn't, I didn't roll my eyes. I reminded myself, she was a lady, she had been young and beautiful once, she had raised children and screwed and fought and loved and lied here. She needed my Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-67540573140884677382016-02-18T18:19:00.000-05:002016-02-18T18:19:28.748-05:00100 WC: "Paper"[The 100 Word Challenge continues with this week's entry, "Paper". This story is called "Roar"]
"Besides, it's only a piece of paper," he said, staring into the computer screen. She could hear the roar, tinny and detached, of a dragon.
She thought about her little sister's wedding, the stupidity of the blue dress and heels and hair and makeup. She thought about standing in the line, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-77052778839979400842016-02-10T19:19:00.003-05:002016-02-10T19:19:39.739-05:00100 Word Challenge: "Mercy"
[This week's 100 Word Challenge brings us the word "luck". This story is called "Mercy"]
I knew her name was Mercy, only because our last names were similar, and sometimes I would get her mail. She had worn long boots over very tight jeans, and her beautiful tan face looked eerie in the flashing lights as the paramedics worked on her. I knew one physics theory said there were an infinite Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-53987686120369124782016-02-04T11:50:00.002-05:002016-02-04T11:50:26.869-05:00100 WC: "Ducks In A Row"[The 100 Word Challenge rolls on with this week's word, Idea. This story is called "Ducks In A Row"]
"What brought this on?," he said loudly.
She hated when he said that. The very idea that single thoughts follow from single incidents, that any of her tears were brought on by anything short of an entire constellation of memories, thoughts, perceptions and feelings, felt insulting and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-19132623282995229912016-01-28T07:23:00.000-05:002016-01-28T07:23:09.592-05:00100 WC: "Yes"
[The thin spiral notebook takes up the mantle of Velvet Verbosity's 100 word challenge, and the word this week is "peculiar". This story is called "Yes"]
"Yes," she said, and then fell silent.
Her face was unsmiling, but not entirely serious. She had a small scar on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were brown, betraying no hint of turmoil. Her cheeks were red from the cold, and her lipstickUnknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-32102702625675869732015-12-21T12:16:00.002-05:002015-12-21T12:17:04.200-05:00Fear The Beast!The Mighty And Powerful Pop Culture Beast has published my review of Amazon Studios' "The Man In The High Castle"
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-32545980996667796272015-11-05T14:00:00.002-05:002015-12-21T12:15:52.813-05:00Light And Shade Challenge: "Prom Night"
[The Light And Shade Challenge continues with the quote "all we ever see of stars are their old photographs," from the great Alan Moore. This story is called "Prom Night"]
They are walking. The camera is off center, so it looks like they are looking at someone, towards someone, who is to the camera's left. He is smiling. He knows how lucky he is. She is smiling too, but secretly, shyly, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-20741073902348472292015-10-25T20:48:00.001-04:002015-10-25T20:48:57.639-04:00Light And Shade Challenge: "I Want To Tell You"
[Our friends at the Light and Shade Challenge have posted a picture of a message in a bottle, and what sprung to mind what may or may not be part of my NaNoWriMo project to come. This story is called "I Want To Tell You"]
"Where did you get this?," he said to me.
I looked up at the officer, his chest broad and strong under the navy blue uniform. "BERRY," Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-80072612752527362092015-08-26T13:52:00.001-04:002015-08-26T13:52:32.396-04:00Light And Shade Challenge: Don't Look Back [Our friends at the Light And Shade Challenge present the quote "Hindsight is 20/20" this week, and my entry is called "Don't Look Back".]
"I always look back," she said. "Everything is in the past. Everything good, anyhow." She was outside, sitting at a gray metal table, ignoring the no smoking sign on the wall behind her. I was standing, leaning against a pillar, watching her smoke, thinking Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-12685878608319226252015-07-29T07:41:00.001-04:002015-07-29T07:41:18.717-04:00Last CallA new book review of mine is available for your perusal here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-86642282671715159292015-07-21T12:00:00.001-04:002015-07-21T12:00:05.434-04:00I Am The Beast That Feeds The BeastThis is my latest review at Garon Cockrell's Pop Culture Beast Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6014331.post-69715626107034410672015-06-29T13:57:00.001-04:002015-06-29T13:57:56.025-04:00Advantageous At The Beast! Garon Cockrell, who is as friendly and sweet as his name is fun to say, has published a film review of mine, for "Advantageous", here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0